A technology for tracking a location of a pet or a wild animal has been variously utilized. In a case of a pet, a tracking technology for preventing the pet from being lost or confirming a location of the pet at an indoor side is used. In the meantime, in a case of a wild animal, a location tracking technology is used for confirming the ecology or a habit of the wild animal.
In order to confirm and track a location of an animal, a global positioning system (GPS) technology is generally used. The GPS is a satellite navigation system which receives a location signal transmitted from a GPS satellite and calculates a current location of a user. Traditionally, the GPS is mainly used in a navigation device of an airplane, a vessel, and an automobile, and recently, the GPS is also used in an animal training device or for tracking a location of an animal, such as a hunting dog, located at a remote place.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,602,302 (registered on Oct. 13, 2009) discloses an animal tracking device, which is worn by an animal and is operable, determines a current geological location of the animal, and transmits the current geological location to a navigation unit possessed by a user. However, the related art is applied to a case where communication is available between the tracking device worn by the animal and the navigation unit possessed by the user, and has a limitation in that there is no additional consideration about a case where communication is not smooth between the tracking device and the navigation unit (for example, a case where it is impossible to recognize the location of the animal due to the getting out of a communication range).
Korean Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-2013-0057683 (published on Jun. 3, 2013) filed by the applicant of the present invention discloses “Animal Training Device for Confirming Location of Collar Transceiving Apparatus using GPS, and Method of Controlling the Same” which outputs a sound or light according to brightness so that a user may easily confirm a location of an animal wearing a receiver in a region, such as a mountain recess, having narrow visibility. The Korean Patent Application Publication suggests the advantage in that it is possible to easily find a location of an animal by a beep sound or an optical output of a light emitting diode, but does not suggest a method of effectively controlling a collar device worn by an animal, of which a location is not recognized.
In the meantime, an existing animal location tracking system is formed of an animal's unit (for example, a tracking device) worn by an animal, and a user's unit (for example, a navigation unit) possessed by a user. However, it is necessary to store map information in the user's unit, install an operation program, and include a visual display unit, so that there is a problem in increasing a total system price.